Party seeks probe of journalist’s abduction

By Jide Jegede April 17, 2010 11:21AM

The Oyo State chapter of the Action Congress (AC) has called on the Inspector General of Police, Ogbonna Onovo, to carry out full swing investigation on the failed kidnap of Akin Oyedele, Ibadan bureau chief of The Punch Newspapers, in order to unravel the motive behind the mission.

The party, in a statement released in Ibadan and signed by its Director of Publicity and Strategy, Wasiu Olatubosun, described the act as another attempt to “weaken the minds of perceived enemies of bad leaders who could not but do the necessary things within the ambit of the nation’s constitution and professional ethics to make the society a better place to live.”

It said it was regrettable that journalists often fall victims of such acts, in spite of their efforts to “devote their energy and other resources to the cause of good governance”, while “the few who compromise easily on code of ethics and personal integrity enjoy political patronage.”

“We are thankful to the Almighty who prevented another ugly incident, this time when the public is still disturbed about the inability of the Police to unravel the mystery behind the brutal assassination of some journalists in recent past. Our party however, calls on the IG to launch a full scale investigation into the case with a view to fishing out the agents of death and the sponsors - since enough clues which point to the direction of a known figure in the state - have been provided by the victim,” the party said.

Assure on safety

Three plain-clothed security operatives, suspected to be working directly with the state governor, Adebayo Alao-Akala’s personal security aides, swooped on a cyber café at Agbowo area of Ibadan, last Thursday, to arrest Mr. Oyedele. It took the intervention of Abraham Ojo, the governor’s Chief Press Secretary (CPS) to let the Punch correspondent off the hook.

The Correspondents’ Chapel of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) in the state had also written the governor, seeking explanation to the incident and assurance of safety to lives of journalists in the state, among others.

The AC, also in the statement, condemned the violence that erupted in Ado-Ekiti on Tuesday after the Election Petition Tribunal concluded on the adoption of addresses by the lawyers representing Kayode Fayemi of the AC and Segun Oni of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the long bid to determine who won the 2007 governorship election in the state.

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